Abbott evades public sector cut questions

Federal Liberal leader Tony Abbott has evaded questions about whether a coalition government will cut public service jobs, but has promised to be more frugal than Labor.

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey has hinted a coalition government will strip public sector jobs to bring the budget back under control.

Asked whether public sector job cuts were on the Liberal agenda, Mr Abbott sidestepped the question.

"We want to ensure that you get good value for your dollar," he told reporters while in the Adelaide Hills on Thursday.

"We think that taxpayers deserve a government which is frugal with their money and that is what you will always get from us, you will get respect from the Coalition for taxpayers' money.

"We understand that - Labor doesn't always understand - that every single dollar that government has, it has on trust from the taxpayer.

"We don't have a single dollar which is ours, we get it from taxpayers...

"And that is why, whatever it is, whether it's the care in your spending, whether it's care in ensuring that the public service is as efficient as possible, you will get that respect for the taxpayers' dollar from the coalition."

Mr Abbott said continuing controversy over funding of the Rudd government's schools program was typical of Labor.

"Every day there is another scandal, another rip-off, in the so-called building the education revolution program," he said.

"Plainly these projects are tattered and bloated and rorted. You had Wayne Swan, the treasurer, admitting in public the other day that some of these projects have been rorted.

"It's pretty obvious that at best, at best, we are getting $10 billion worth of value from $16 billion worth of spending.

"This is a trespass on the taxpayer."

Mr Abbott said while avoiding the recession was important, it did not justify wasting public money.

"I think that Australians are rapidly coming to the conclusion that you cannot trust the Rudd Labor government with taxpayers' money, they don't know how to handle it, they waste it in a way which is just unconscionable," he said.